THOMPSON — Jeff Zuidema was working hard Saturday to keep everything in order and everyone happy.

Thompson Speedway’s new race director has been busy all winter trying to bring cars, teams and drivers back to the Northeastern Connecticut race track. He did so by working the phones and helping re-write the rule book.

On Saturday, Zuidema had his first chance to see if all that work paid off.

“I didn’t sleep (Friday) night,” Zuidema said. “I’m not going to say I was nervous. I would call it excited, ready to go.”

And if it was a sleepless Friday, it likely will be a toss-and-turn Saturday night for Zuidema. The real deal takes place beginning at noon today with the annual Icebreaker event, featuring the first official Whelen Modified Tour race of the season.

On Saturday, the early reviews of Zuidema’s performance were positive.

“It’s a different feeling, because 90 percent of us have seen Jeff race and about 60 of us have raced against him. He’s a good guy and he’s a racer,” Limited Sportsman driver Steve Kenneway said. “He understands from a racer’s point of view how hard it is for some of us to get here for just this one race.

“There’s a lot of teams who probably came here this weekend and don’t have the money to buy a cheeseburger. I’ve been there; so has Jeff. So he knows where everybody is at, and he has to try and make it good for everybody.”

The track made other changes to try to improve its car counts, which had slipped to a dangerously low level in such divisions as the Thompson and Sunoco Lite Modifieds, and the Late Models. The Thompson Modified division was eliminated, and the Late Models now follow ACT rules, common to the neighboring tracks.

Zuidema referred to his days as a driver, where by the end of his career he had to have five different cars in the garage to race the different tracks.

“The way things are today, how can anyone afford to do that?” Zuidema said. “I think the rule changes have been huge to get them all together so you can race the same car at all the tracks.”

The proof was in the pit stalls where the teams had filled in their usual spots.

“I have to be happy with the car count,” Zuidema said. “We know where car counts have been. We knew we had to get car counts back. You can’t have races without race cars.”

On hand Saturday were 21 Sunoco Modified cars, which Zuidema considered “great,” but what he was most pleased about were the Late Models in attendance.

Despite the ACT Tour having a date at Lee, N.H., this weekend, more than a dozen Late Model cars were at Thompson on Saturday. Now running ACT rules, Zuidema expects some of those cars at Lee will filter down to Thompson for the Thursday Night Thunder weekly series, which will begin May 30.

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The new rules meant that drivers such as John Falconi had to build a new car — not that he seemed to mind.

“It was a lot of money, but it’s what I wanted because now we can go and take in some of the ACT Tour races, and go to another track that runs these rules and have some fun,” Falconi said. “This will be our home track and we will run here every week, but if we want to play around, we can.”

Whelen qualifying

Mike Stefanik was the last car to take to the track on Saturday in time trials, but today he will be the first one on it for the 150-lap Whelen Modified Tour feature.

Stefanik took a record 48th Whelen Modified Tour pole and his 10th at Thompson with an 18.668 lap time, which translates to 120.5 miles per hour.

“(Crew chief) Brad LaFontaine puts a lot of effort into Saturday’s practice and set up everything,” Stefanik said, “and he called me on the radio and said there was an extra $100 in it if I could put it on the pole. I’m a money-hungry guy, so that was a little more motivation for me.”

Stefanik will have Berlin driver Ryan Preece and his No. 16 car on his outside in the front row. Preece posted the second-best time of 18.707.

“If it means I’m going to be first in the race, I’m happy being second (fastest Saturday),” Preece said. “Hats off to Mike and them. They did their homework and I think we will be good (today).”

Chuck Hossfeld, who qualified fourth, will start at the back of the pack after his car failed a fuel inspection.

Best of the Rest

Two “Best of the Rest” features were held on Saturday featuring cars that were not in the top 10 in the final 2012 point standings.